(1) Field of the Invention
The present invention relates generally to fabrics and, more particularly, to a fire barrier fabric for covering articles to provide fire retardance or resistance.
(2) Description of the Prior Art
Generally, flame retardant fabrics of the prior art use flame retardant fibers, in particular nonwovens or knit fabrics that gain their primary functional flame retardance from chemical treatments. Also, multilayers are either applied as a separate layer or laminated to a decorative fabric. Thus, there remains a need for a unitary, integrally formed fire resistant fabric for applications on upholstered articles.
US Patent Application 20050115001: A coated fabric with a flame-resistant finish. It has an outer cover which is not integrated or unitary with the flame-resistant cover.
U.S. Pat. Nos. 6,553,749; 6,146,759; and 6,410,140: A yarn that we would use in our fire barrier layer. It does state that a total fabric could be made out of this yarn and be decorated but the hand of this yarn is not aesthetically pleasing and weight of the fabric is heavy. It is not a multi layer fabric.US Patent Application 20050097652: A garment with three components laminated to each other. The layers are not integrated with each other.U.S. Pat. No. 4,504,991: A fire barrier composite fabric created by laminating/bonding a fire retardant material to a fiberglass fabric, which creates a barrier fabric. This fabric is not decorated or integrated with another aesthetically pleasing fabric. The ticking actually covers this fabric.U.S. Pat. No. 5,578,368: A combination of a fire resistant fiber with a fiberfill batt. The two are laminated, needle-punched etc together to combine. The fabric does not have an outer decorated fabric integrated into the fire barrier.